OMAHA, Neb. — This appearance in the College World Series has started painfully similar to the last for Virginia. “We’re disappointed.
We’re frustrated,” UVa coach Brian O’Connor said after the No. 12-seeded Cavaliers suffered a demoralizing, 3-2, walk-off loss to No. 4-seed North Carolina on Friday afternoon to open action in Omaha at Charles Schwab Field.
The Tar Heels won the bout on star Vance Honeycutt’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth. O’Connor elected to have side-arming reliever Chase Hungate pitch to Honeycutt, a projected first-round pick for this summer’s MLB Draft, with first base open and the game on the line. Hungate, who hadn’t allowed a run in his three previous postseason outings and had already thrown one and third scoreless frames on Friday, surrendered a lead-off single to pinch hitter Jackson Van De Brake to begin the ninth.
He advanced to second on Alex Madera’s sacrifice bunt before Hungate retired Colby Wilkerson on a pop up for the second out. People are also reading..
. Then, Honeycutt, an All-ACC first-teamer, stepped into the box with Casey Cook — the owner three hits in the game — on deck and that’s who O’Connor said he was more concerned about. “It was the right matchup,” O’Connor said.
“I’ll tell you, Cook, I think, is their best hitter in the lineup. So, it wasn’t an option for us to [intentionally] walk Honeycutt. Honeycutt is a great player.
He has a lot of home runs, but I felt we had handled hi.
